The present invention relates to vehicle seats, and in particular to folding vehicle seat arrangements typically used for the rear seats of a vehicle.
Vehicle rear seats may be arranged to fold from a normal seating position to a stowed or flat position in order to increase the rear storage or luggage space of the vehicle. In addition vehicle seats may be arranged to fold and/or be moved from their seating position to allow passenger access behind the seat, and in particular to further seats located in the vehicle behind the folding seat. This is particularly the case in MPVs (or people carrier) type vehicles which include a third row of seats located behind a first row of rear seats and which are accessed through rear vehicle doors located adjacent to the first row of vehicle seats.
In typical folding seat arrangements the seat back is arranged to be manually unlocked and pivoted forward about its bottom edge from a substantially vertical seating position within the vehicle to allow access behind the seat, and/or folded flat such that the rear of the seat back is generally horizontal within the vehicle continuing the rear luggage floor of the vehicle to provide increased luggage area. The seat bottom cushion may also be pivoted forward about a front edge from a substantially horizontal seating position to a generally vertical position to allow the seat back to be folded flat into the space where the seat bottom cushion is located when in the seating position. A well or recess may also be provided beneath and/or forward of the seat bottom cushion into which the seat back and/or seat bottom cushion can be folded in their stowed positions.
Other folding arrangements are also known in which the seat bottom, and seat back portions are moved and pivoted from their normal seating positions in which the seat back extends generally vertically from the generally horizontally disposed seat bottom cushion, to a stowed position.
Manual folding of the seats and seat portions can be difficult for some users with complex manual folding and release latches often being used. In addition the seats can have considerable weight and in conjunction with the folding arrangements may be cumbersome to move from their seating to stowed positions. Furthermore manual locking arrangements to hold the seats in their seating position (or in the stowed positions) may inadvertently be operated undesirably releasing the seat with consequent safety implications. To prevent this more complex manual locking arrangements are used, which can then be difficult to operate an release the seat when it is required to be moved.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved folding vehicle seat arrangement which addresses the above described problems and/or which offers improvements generally.